A Soul to Embrace (Duskwalker Brides #8)

Chapter 1

One Nyl’theria month (three and a half Earth months) later

Jabez’s nose wrinkled as he bit back an unhidden groan through clenched fangs until a muscle in his jaw knotted. Watching Zylah bounce a sopping-wet pussy up and down his cock while facing away from him, he locked his heated gaze onto her fluffy tail as it brushed against his abdomen repeatedly.

He cut his nails down her furry back so when he got close to that little tuft of fur, it’d flutter. Along with it, her insides quivered around his cock, and his jaw fell.

I love it when she does that.

He brought his thumbs to either side of her slit and spread the lips of her purple pussy from behind so he could watch himself disappearing repeatedly into her snug heat. He licked across his lips as a shuddering pant fell from him.

When his seed started to rise, he held her hips and rammed into her from below at the same time. He slammed himself balls deep, making sure her cunt swallowed him whole.

The brightness of early morning darkened as his vision dimmed when his sac drew up tight, and he met her thrust for thrust. A tingle spread through his groin and ran up his sweat-coated spine. His stomach hollowed, his chest tightened when his breaths cut off, and his heart raced until it was a deafening roar in his ears.

Within seconds, he was spending inside her. Instead of trying to hold her down so he was as deep as possible, he let her playfully bounce on him. It ensured she utterly scrambled his mind as he lay there and just let her have her fun while he came. As he was finishing, her own orgasm had her claws digging into his shaking thighs, and she tipped her head back to let out a pretty cry.

Fuck, she’s going to kill me one day doing this. He groaned as she squeezed his now sensitive cock tight.

Only when she was finished wringing herself around him did he grab her hips and hold her down so she’d stop. Which, of course, she didn’t. She squirmed and twisted to keep going, releasing a whine of disquiet.

Slipping his cock from her, Jabez tackled her to the bed and her chest slammed against it. He held her down by straddling her arse, his shaft resting between her plump cheeks, and laid down over her. He pressed a kiss to the side of her neck.

“That’s enough, Zylah,” he told her, flicking his eyes up at the brightening sky.

“But I don’t want to stop,” she exclaimed, lifting her hips up to grind against him.

“Well, too bad.” He nipped her neck as he ran his hands down her arms and held the backs of her hands. “You managed to convince me to have sex this morning when we were supposed to be getting ready. Merikh will get annoyed if we’re late because we were fucking.”

She turned her head to the side with a harrumph and then let out an annoyed snorting huff. She’s cute when she pouts.

“I don’t care how he feels,” she grumbled.

He hopped off her and gave her plump backside a hard spank. “Atta girl.”

Jabez quickly rolled off the bed and shoved his hand up to prepare himself in case a horny Zylah tackled him. She didn’t, and he stood up straight as she climbed off the mattress. Then he turned and walked to the shower area while pulling free the half bun he had his hair in. He waved his hand in front of the temperature-controlled mana stone, and the shower came to life.

Before he entered the stall, he stepped back into the doorway to peek at Zylah, who was going through the hanging wardrobe situated against the wall near the bed.

“Are you coming?”

Her shoulders stiffened, her fur puffing along with the movement, and she turned her head away. “No. I don’t like it in there.”

“We don’t have time for a bath.” When she didn’t immediately come, he held his hand out and beckoned her with it. “I’ll make sure you don’t fall again.”

Zylah let out a sigh and waltzed her furry butt over to him. The moment she crossed the threshold into the wet area, her knees were unsteady, and she held onto his forearms. He closed her in under the water’s spray by placing his hands against the obsidian wall on either side of her.

She really hasn’t gotten over that first time yet. He tried not to laugh, as he knew that would only worsen how she felt.

Jabez tentatively removed his right hand from the wall so he could touch between her thighs and slip two fingers inside her. Not expecting it, she gasped and gripped his shoulders.

“I-I don’t want to do it in the shower!”

“I’m not.” Although... the idea of fucking her against the wall as warm water sprayed his back did make his still-erect cock jerk. “I’m cleaning you of my cum.”

She let out an uncomfortable moan when he spread his fingers, but he was satisfied when sticky liquid dribbled from her.

“Why?”

“Because, trust me, it’s probably better if I do.”

Jabez normally didn’t give a damn, but they were about to be around scent-orientated creatures who had very good senses of smell. They also hated him with a passion. He’d rather not make it more awkward for her, as she was the one who would be within sniffing distance while he stayed back and out of harm’s way.

Once he was done, he helped her wash in their scentless shampoo and then turned the water off. With a simple wave of his hand, the drying spell turned on, and the wobble in her knees eased.

She exited the room while he brushed his fangs, then he combed his hair and tied it back into a half bun again. He checked to make sure his face didn’t need shaving, and he was satisfied to find it was barely prickly since he’d done it the previous day.

Just as he was leaving the wet area, he noticed her pull out her favourite outfit.

“I wanted to wear the teal dress,” he said with a deadpan expression and tone.

Zylah’s orbs flared bright yellow as she clutched the garment to her chest. She turned away from him to hide her giggle, trying not to encourage his mischief and how funny he found himself.

He donned a pair of black skintight pants and a long-sleeved shirt before cladding himself in his navy sleeveless tunic that had a tight, rigid collar. When he slipped his legs into his light-purple harem pants, he tied them around his knees so they didn’t flap around his calves. He donned nothing else, but he pulled back the sleeves of the black shirt when the heat immediately started to make him sweat.

It should be summer on Earth, but I’d rather not waste mana keeping myself warm. He could already foresee how Merikh was about to abuse his magical abilities, and he didn’t want to add to it.

Once they were dressed, they left their home. They only needed to reach the end of the hallway before the big Mavka and his bride could be seen waiting for them.

Dressed in a red sleeveless tunic almost identical to his own, Merikh wore black pants that tied around his knees. Like usual, he wore the armoured Elven guards to protect others from his dangerous quills.

Raewyn had chosen to don a pale-pink dress that was flowy, long, and would have been revealing if it wasn’t for the black skintight pants and shirt she also wore. On her feet, she wore the decorative soleless shoes that most Elysians preferred, keeping the bottoms of her feet bare so she could freely use her magic.

A high-pitched giggle reached his ears as a small Delysian child let go of Raewyn’s hand and bolted for him with a squeal. He watched the little girl approach and then quickly collected her into his arms.

“Well, good morning to you, too, Lehnenia,” Jabez greeted in Nyl’kira, as he took in her features less than an inch from his nose. Her big red eyes, tipped with white lashes, bore into his own.

With horns running back over her head similar to his own, she gave him a fanged smile. Unlike him, the demonling had large canine fangs, and they were so big for her mouth that it pushed her shark-like ones forward in the middle to create a point. Loose, corkscrew curls bounced around her head and pointed ears as she gave him a wide-eyed greeting stare.

Like him and Raewyn, Lehnenia also wore a set of warm clothing underneath a pale-orange dress.

“Morning, Jabez,” Lehnenia cooed, brushing her hands into the long lengths of his hair – that were free from his half bun – resting against his chest.

Considering they shared similar Demon and Elven features, she’d instantly become smitten with him. He wasn’t usually a fan of children touching him, but he just loved pissing off her adoptive father. He was overplaying the ‘nice uncle’ act.

Jabez lifted his gaze away from the child so he could grin at Merikh. “At least someone is happy to see me.”

The bull-horned Mavka folded his arms across his broad chest. “You’re late,” he said in Nyl’kira, since he’d been learning it for quite a few months here – he was mediocre at best.

Two silver bands were locked around Merikh’s bull horns, each one with a thin chain of starburst charms dangling from it, and he noted a glint hiding behind Raewyn’s voluminous hair.

A sly smirk twitched the right side of his mouth.

Merikh had seen Jabez and Zylah’s matching pair of bonding charms and grown interested in the Demon custom. Especially as he’d noticed Delysian couples within the city wearing similar charms.

Jabez had a feeling Merikh probably wanted to visually mark his female like a possessive Mavka to keep others away from her. He liked that he’d given him the idea, and it was amusing how Merikh had tried to hide his awkwardness in asking for assistance regarding it.

He let Merikh decide his own charms, but he’d obviously borrowed the idea of representing their eye colours and used crystals and metal to symbolise his bride’s rather mesmerising starburst pupils.

Raewyn patted Merikh’s side until her hands found the cream satchel strapped across his torso. She dug into it with deeply furrowed white brows and spoke in English.

“Are you sure we have everything? Did you grab the snacks for her? You know she probably won’t want to eat anything there, as it’s new.” She dug around a thick jacket, before gasping. “Where are her socks?!”

“They’re in the front pocket,” Merikh answered back, shutting the bag so the woman could stop fretting. “I’ve checked it multiple times, Raewyn. We have everything for her.”

Jabez put the child down, who was reluctant to be let go. She went over to Merikh, rose her arms up to him with grabby hands, and demanded that her father pick her up. He easily complied, and Jabez was already aware he spoiled the demonling.

“Alright, are you ready?” Jabez asked, placing his arm around Zylah’s waist. “I’ll have to take you and Lehnenia first, and then Raewyn and Zylah.”

Merikh scoffed. “Still can’t take more than two people, huh?”

“Listen, you fuck. Do you know how damn dense your kind are?” Jabez argued, rolling his eyes like that should have been obvious. “You know I can only teleport what I can carry, and your furry arse is as heavy as a boulder the size of your torso.”

“Can you please not swear in front of Lehnenia?” Raewyn bit out while folding her arms and narrowing her eyes in his general direction. She tapped her thin biceps in annoyance.

“It’s not like she’ll understand Engl–” He was cut off the moment the child repeated the word ‘fuck’ with a coy grin curling her lips.

Jabez chuckled as his eyes crinkled with humour. Look at her go.

He coughed and looked away when Merikh’s orbs shone deeper in their reddish hue than normal. He almost began whistling like a deviant, but he knew that wouldn’t bode well for him. I’m not used to being around children, he thought in his own defence. Filtering himself when he spoke had never been on his radar.

Much had changed in just a few short weeks of being here.

His relationship with Merikh had begun to shift to how it used to be, since the Mavka went everywhere with him when he left the city for the council. Training together, getting books for Zerik, and mining mana stones meant they were in each other’s company almost daily and for an extensive period of time.

Merikh’s anger towards him hadn’t truly faded, but it had ebbed over time when he saw Jabez was... changing. Jabez would always be the same brash, cold, arrogant, and cheeky man when he wanted to be – as he’d always been – but his wants and desires had shifted entirely.

Jabez had also warmed up to his half-sister a little. He’d thought Raewyn to be a soft-hearted woman, but she could actually be rather stern and prickly when she wanted. She had a bubbly personality outside of the conference chamber and her laboratory, and she changed how she behaved upon walking out of those spaces.

However, he had quickly, and rather harshly, placed a boundary between them the first time she’d tried to bring up the idea of Jabez meeting with his mother and stepfather. He was in complete refusal of it, and he hoped he never crossed paths with them in the city.

The fact his stepfather still worked in the hospital left him ill with the idea of Zylah visiting it in curiosity. He told Raewyn if she went behind his back to introduce them, he’d cut emotional ties with her and his niece within an instant. He would also only communicate with her through Merikh, even within her own workspace, and he warned her of how cold and callous he could be once betrayed.

Her features had twisted, the idea of already losing the shaky bond he was allowing to form leaving her distressed, and she agreed. She’d even offered to help Zylah and him evade his parents to the best of her abilities.

He’d learned through such actions that Raewyn was exceptionally stubborn when she wanted to be, but willing to be passive when required. She was pushing for a bond with him and was doing everything in her power to make it possible, despite his original aversion to the idea.

He wondered if her stubbornness was how she’d won over Merikh.

Once everyone confirmed they were ready, Jabez released Zylah’s waist and approached Merikh. He placed his hand on the surly Mavka’s arm and teleported him and Lehnenia to the gate of the city. They left the safety of it while Jabez went back to grab their females.

Then he followed the same transport pattern as he took them to the portal to Austrális he’d created a long, long time ago.

I still can’t believe he forced me into this, he thought, as he looked at the glowing yellow portal with utter disdain.

To fucking Earth I go.